The Journey Never Ends
by StormDemons
Summary: In the end, everyone is a pawn. Obito to Madara. Madara to Kaguya. Kaguya to the Shinju. The Shinju. The ultimate power of an entire universe. When the Shinju tries to take in the very essence of the universe to reach complete power, only one person can stop him. Naruto Uzumaki. But does our hero have what it takes to stop a mad God? At what cost would he achieve victory over god?
1. Alone!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

"Regular text or speech"

"Jutsu"

"**Bijuu, Kaguya, or Black Zetsu talking"**

'_Thoughts'_

**Just to tell you where it is placed**

* * *

**Somewhere in ****Tsuchi no Kuni**

* * *

An screech followed by a loud explosion and a giant sphere of wind went off in the distance.

A few seconds later the one that sent out the attack fell to his knees in exhaustion.

He sat up and looked down from his place on a cliff edge. As far as the eye could see there were giant vines with covered in gigantic pods. Moving among the vines were large humanoid monsters that only had a single large mouth that was filled with rows upon rows of jagged teeth that made up its face. The rest of its body had large spikes protruding from them.

Rage. Sadness. Depression. Hopelessness.

He felt all of theses emotions and more just from looking that the vines and monsters.

Looking at the black hair man standing next to him he nodded, conveying his intent. Together they both jumped in to swarm of monsters, cutting them down with maximum prejudice.

"They aren't very strong are they? Sasuke." The first man spoke. His voice sounded harsh and gravely. Like he hadn't spoken very much lately and like he hadn't had anything to drink in ages. At the same time there was a hint of fondness in his tone.

"Huh. Reminds me of your 'Kage Bunshin' back when Team 7 was formed. Weak but uncountable. Only takes one slip up and its over." The second man spoke. His voice was cold and sharp as the blade in his hands.

As they mindlessly cut down the monsters around them, they thought about how the world went to hell. How defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory.

* * *

**Flashback - Final Day of the Fourth Great Shinobi War**

* * *

They had Madara on the ropes.

The Rikudou Sennin had just gifted both him and Sasuke half of his power and with it they were pushing the reincarnated bastard to his limits.

Then it started. The beginning of the end.

Zetsu stabbed man threw his chest. That started the chain of events that would ruin everything.

Zetsu covered the body of Madara and it started changing. In a few seconds in the place of Madara was Kaguya Otsutsuki, the mother of all Chakra. Before either Naruto or Sasuke could register the fact that Madara, the man that they had spent this entire time fighting, was killed in an instant Kaguya launched herself at them. They quickly took a fighting stance and charged at her in return.

* * *

**Several Hours Later**

* * *

They had her.

Kaguya was about to be sealed with both Naruto and Sasuke touching her with their respective palms. Kakashi, Obito, and Sakura all died for this. If they didn't stop her than everyone else would be stuck in a permanent illusion. There was no option but to stop her.

Then the world went to hell.

Zetsu again ushered in a change that would make life countless times harder for both of our young heroes.

He changed the shape of his body to make spikes that would keep both Naruto and Sasuke at bay. Kaguya gave a tired, but arrogant and victorious smirk.

**"Don't you see? I am the Goddess of all Chakra. You can't beat me with my own weapon you simple little childre-AHHH!"** Her victory speech was cut short when Zetsu stabbed her like he did Madara not 5 hours prior.

**"Zetsu? How can you betray me?! You were born of my will! What I want, you want!"** Kaguya shouted between coughs.

**"Could a human possibly get more arrogant than you? First you make a deal to borrow the lifeforce of master. Then you break the deal by using it for things beyond what was agreed upon. Not only that, but you birth two children who you them gift with a gift that was never yours to give. Finally you have the audacity to keep the power that you begged for when it was time to return it? How disgusting." **The pitch black being spoke.

Deal? Master? Gift? It hit all three of them at the same time.

**"Shinju-sama?" **Kaguya asked in extreme fear, forgetting even the fact that she was dying.

**"No. I am simply a figment of the anger that Shinju-sama felt when you crossed him. I was sent by ****Shinju-sama ****to usher the full return of ****Shinju-sama ****so ****Shinju-sama can collect what is rightfully his." **Zetsu explained.

Before they could finish processing what was said, Kaguya gave off a bloodcurdling scream of pure agony and fear. Her very skin started the ripple and tear. Bubbles of pure silver Chakra started to pop out of holes on her formerly pristine skin. The vines that contained Allied Shinobi Forces started to push out balls of blue Chakra. The air around them started to form green balls of Chakra. Suddenly the balls of chakra all rushed to one spot. It started to form a shape. A humanoid shape. A gigantic humanoid shape. It was colored strangely. Almost like a painting. Pitch black with streaks of silver. There was nothing that could point to it being one gender of the other. It was tall and scrawny. Almost like a skeleton covered in black tubing. The only real feature it had was a single eye in the middle of its face. The eye of the Juubi.

That is what they might have noticed. If they were not currently preoccupied.

With what you might ask?

With the power the being in front of them possessed. It was beyond anything the felt or could even hope to imagine. But what was truly frightening about the being front of them not how strong it currently was. No. What scared them was the fact that it was getting stronger.

Both Naruto and Sasuke did the only thing that they could think to do. They did something they felt no shame in admitting but at the same time regretted everyday.

They ran.

* * *

**Flashback End - In the Hideout**

* * *

The felt no shame in running. Hell, they even felt pride in the fact that they didn't piss themselves before slitting their own throats in fear.

They regretted running because they knew that if they stayed and attacked with everything they had, the would have stood the greatest chance of winning. While it was gathering its initial Chakra, it was at its weakest.

No point in crying over spilt milk now.

As he sat in the underground complex, he thought about

They had spent the last three years traveling the Elemental Nations. Finding any scrolls on Jutsu they could get their hands on. Learning them. Freeing as many people the could from the vines before they changed into Jubbi-Spawns, unfortunately the process only took a year. They managed to save around 1000 individuals. The struggle to get enough food for 1000 people was enormous, but neither Naruto nor Sasuke would willing allow anyone to die. The world was on the brink of the end, they couldn't afford enough a single life to be lost. Luckily the Shinju never targeted its former captives, seeing how they lacked a Chakra network.

Over the past three years the had grown strong. Each of them alone could have knocked around both Madara and Kaguya with only moderate difficulty. But even together they failed to do any lasting damage to the Shinju whenever they fought.

That was how they lived.

Get food.

Take food to the people.

Grab scrolls.

Train while killing as many Juubi-Spawn they could.

Look for any scrolls they might have missed.

Eat.

Sleep.

Repeat.

They would randomly charge the Shinju and try to fight it but it would happen like clockwork.

They would attack.

They Shinju would watch them approach.

They would be about to make contact and then the Shinju would dodge.

The Shinju would attack and they would defend and throw in shots when they could.

They would tire.

They would run.

Recently Sasuke started to show signs of weakening. His was moving slower. He woke up later and later each day. He experienced Chakra exhaustion faster and recovered from it slower. He was also coughing up blood from seemingly no reason. Naruto wanted to ask, but if he were completely honest, it didn't matter.

If Sasuke could fight then nothing else mattered. All they needed was to keep training, then keep the Shinju occupied long enough for the seal the Naruto had spent the last year creating with his clones to seal away the Shinju into one of them.

"Oi, Naruto." Sasuke called out.

"What?" Came a tired reply.

"Get me some water. I can't even move out of my bed right now."

"Lazy teme. If I didn't need you I would have killed you by now, you know that right?"

"Huh. For once we agree on something."

"...teme." Naruto muttered.

"Here. Your water. Anything else master?" Naruto asked in a tone that oozed sarcasm.

"..."

"Speak louder, I can't hear you."

"...Sorry." Sasuke whispered.

"What? Why?" He turned his head to look at Sasuke. He turned in time to see Sasuke change his eyes from the regular black to his Eien Mangekyou Sharingan.

**"Tsukuyomi!"**

* * *

**Inside the ****Tsukuyomi Realm**

* * *

"Goddamn it Sasuke?! What the hell is the big idea?!" Naruto raged as soon as he realized what was going on.

"Sorry Naruto. I'm sure that you have noticed by now that I am getting weaker by the day."

"Your point is?" Naruto asked impatiently

"I'm dying Naruto."

The bomb was dropped.

"Ah, haha." Naruto laughed. "I almost bought that for a second." He continued to laugh as Sasuke watched. He noticed and stopped suddenly.

"You... you are kidding? Right?!" Naruto demanded, almost in hysterics.

"No."

"How long?" Naruto asked, his face and voice lacking any emotion.

"I doubt I even have a day left."

"What are you dying from?"

"Don't expect to find a cure. Itachi had it before me and he died as well."

"So why bring me here?"

"So I can give you the greatest gift I have to give. So I can help you defeat the Shinju. So I can see tomorrow through you." Sasuke replied.

"Wha... you don't mean..." Naruto trailed off, the realization of the gift shocking him to his core.

"Yes. I leave you the eyes of Itachi Uchiha. The eyes I have used for over 3 years now. I leave you my legacy. Never give up Naruto. Fight for tomorrow. Live." Saying his part the world of Tsukuyomi started to crumble away returning both of them to the real world.

* * *

**In the Hideout**

* * *

Naruto blinked away his disorientation. He realized something. The world was suddenly clear beyond belief. It was as if he had been viewing the world through a foggy glass his whole life and he just bothered to clean it. A cough drew him out of his thoughts.

There lay Sasuke. Sitting against a wall. Coughing out blood. Missing both of his eyes. A clone, presumably the one who preformed the surgery, poofed out of existence.

"...I promise." Naruto whispered.

"Thats all I could ask for." Sasuke replied before breathing out slowly.

It was there that the Uchiha line ended.

It was there that Naruto became the last Shinobi alive.

It was there that Naruto lost his last comrade.

It was there that Naruto cried, for the first time in 3 years.

3 years of pent of emotion let loose at the death of his last friend.

His best friend.

His brother.

His chakra flared as he shouted to the heavens.

_**"SHINJU!"**_

* * *

**Well there it is. Just a idea that was swimming in my head. I had a couple people ask for me to write something like this so here it is. Basically it is the same as canon but Sakura and Kakashi die during the battle with Kaguya. It is then revealed that Zetsu was the will of Shinju, not Kaguya, all along. Shinju then starts the drain the Chakra from world, leaving only Naruto and Sasuke to fight. They manage to pull around 1000 people from the pea-pod things before the rest of them were turned in the Shinju-Spawn. Sasuke then finds out that he has the same disease as Itachi. He tries to push past it but when he knows that his death is imminent he puts Naruto under ****Tsukuyomi long enough for him to swap eyes. Now Sasuke is dead. Naruto is out for blood. What will happen now? I'll tell you when I decide. Later!**


	2. The Last Stand!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

"Regular text or speech"

"Jutsu"

"**Bijuu, Shinju, or Black Zetsu talking"**

'_Thoughts'_

**Just to tell you where it is placed**

* * *

**Hideout**

* * *

_**"SHINJU!"**_

Naruto roared in pure unadulterated hatred. If it wasn't for the Shinju none of this would have happened. There would be no Zetsu. There would be no Infinite Tsukuyomi. There would be no Akatsuki. There would be no Fourth Great Shinobi War. Tsunade and Sakura wouldn't have died. They could have saved Sasuke. It was a row of dominos and Shinju was the first one to fall over that knocked over the rest.

No more.

This had gone on for long enough.

It was time to end, with either the defeat of the Shinju or his death.

He restrained himself. Being one of only two people that could resist God for over 3 years taught him to control himself better than anyone could even fathom.

Today he would prepare and tomorrow he would finish it, there would be no retreat.

First things first. Sleep.

The toll of the years hit him.

The suppressed emotions. The stress. The worry. The pain. The fatigue. The sadness. The grief. Everything.

It hit him like the water behind a massive dam. He let it hit him. He let it wash him into the realm of sweet nothingness.

* * *

**The Next Day**

* * *

This was it. He felt anxious, but at the same time he felt happy. Either way, after today it would all be over. For better for worse.

Unsealing his blade, he checked everything else to make sure that he was ready. His blade was on that he first laid eyes on over 6 years ago, on his first mission outside of his village. Kubikiribocho.

It was actually the second blade he started using. The first being Samehada. He thought that with the Chakra stealing abilities of the blade he might have had a edge on the Shinju. Unfortunately when he managed to steal a small fraction of the Chakra for the Shinju that blade grew to large to use. Then the Shinju, in a rare show of emotion, roared in fury at have its Chakra stolen and disintegrated the blade.

He then started using Kubikiribocho because it was the only blade capable of handling the amount of Chakra he ran through it. The metal of the blade was second to none. Sasuke stuck to the Kusanagi that he stole from Orochimaru. Naruto thought about using a smaller blade like Sasuke but decided that it required too much finesses for his style of fighting.

As he approached the area where the Shinju would doubtlessly approach to fight him he sent out a clone to start the sealing process. Luckily he had most of the seal set up, just on several different stone plates that he needed to connect and run chakra through. Then it would be over. The Shinju would be sealed into him and it would be over. Either that or he would fail and all of the struggles would be for nothing.

No pressure.

* * *

**One Hour Later**

* * *

Naruto sat there waiting. His anxiety reaching unimaginable heights. At this point he wouldn't be surprised if he started going bald from stress. Suddenly a overwhelming aura entered the area. Only one being could possibly do something like this.

Shinju.

"About time you showed up." Naruto called out, hoping to stall for as much time he could grant his clones.

**"Does it matter when I show up to deal with an germ such as yourself? You will fall regardless, time is merely a minor annoyance to one such as myself." **The Shinju replied in a genderless monotone, but somehow it managed to project an aura of superiority and smugness with just the tone of its voice. It pissed Naruto off like nothing else.

"If I'm just an insect, then why am I still alive? Are you, the almighty Shinju, too pathetic to deal with a simple germ?" Naruto prodded.

**"Hardly. You are nothing but a small annoyance that I decided to keep around out of curiosity." **The Shinju answered. Naruto was at a loss, the Shinju never entertained any question either Naruto nor Sasuke asked in the past hoping to stall.

"What do you mean?"

**"Must I spell it out? I kept you and the other male alive to see if you would be able to stop me. Kaguya managed to stop me, well half of me considering the fact that she was wielding the other half, back during what I consider my infant stages. Then when her own spawn defeated her and half of my power was once again let loose, I again lost, this time to her spawn. Back then I was nothing but a mass of energy that barely contained intelligents to hold conservation, which Kaguya exploited to get me to gift her with half of my power. But like all things I have evolved. I suppose I can count the fact that the spawn of Kaguya gave my power to the being that inhabit this world as a hidden blessing. Through them I gained knowledge. I simply desired to see if there was any hope of you and the other male defeating me. Both of you have surpasses Kaguya and her spawn on your own, but even together you were nothing to me. Now you are at the strongest you will ever reach. It is time to see if you can stop me before I reach ultimate power." **The Shinju ranted in its monotone.

"...You kept me and Sasuke around to see if we going prove to be a challenge to you? ...You bastard... You killed almost all of the life on this planet and you're talking about it likes its a game... What the hell do you mean by ultimate power?" Naruto asked, struggling to hold in his rage at the reasoning of the Shinju and at the same time scared at what the Shinju was implying.

**"I possess the highest concentration of power and intelligence anywhere in the entire universe. Unfortunately, I don't posses all the power and intelligence. In order to remedy that I shall absorb the the entire and assimilate it. When I am done with that I shall move to another universe and repeat the process. There will be no end to my growth. I shall become the God of all that has existed, all that currently exists, and all that will exist." **The Shinju stated.

Naruto froze. He was no longer fighting for himself, Sasuke, everyone that died fighting, everyone that believed in him, and everyone still alive.

No.

He was fighting for... everyone.

There was no other way to put it. If he lost then everything would be over for everyone. Nothing would matter for anyone. If he lost Shinju would absorb this universe before moving the the next and repeating. Nothing would be able to stop him after the first domino fell.

Just thinking about it made him feel insignificant. He was ready to end it all so it would be over. So he could rest. He should be ready to end it so no one would have to suffer and watch everything they knew and loved disappear as they were force to hopelessly watch. He should be ready to end it so no one would suffer what he did. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

He gripped his blade, readying himself to draw it.

"So, thats how it is?"

He flexed his legs, readying himself to charge or dodge.

"I'm sorry but you won't be able to reach that dream of yours."

He gathered and focused his chakra, readying himself to either push it to his limbs or send out a jutsu.

"I'm really sorry, honestly I am. But I don't exactly believe what you're saying is even remotely sane."

He opened his showing the cursed eyes of Itachi Uchiha, the cursed eyes used by Sasuke Uchiha, the cursed eyes blessed by the Rikudou Sennin himself.

"That means that I will put you down like the mad dog you are! IT ENDS HERE SHINJU!"

He charged, the hope of everything in existence behind him.

* * *

**Here is a chapter. Time to look into my book of excuses as to why it takes me so long to write a chapter. My excuses are... *drumroll* ...I was studying for some big tests, I have a social life and I am lazy. Anyway, its Spring Break! So I plan on updating two or three more times. Take that with a grain of salt. Now for a short overview of the chapter.**

**Naruto is going to confront the Shinju. He didn't charge in when Sasuke died because three years of guerrilla warfare against a insurmountable opponent teaches you not to be rash or reckless. He spent the day resting and now he is confronting the Shinju. During the conversation he started to stall the Shinju he found out somethings that he would have never imagined before. The Shinju plans to absorb everything in the universe, then move universes and repeat in an attempt to reach ultimate power. Naruto realizing that this fight was bigger than the fate of his world. It would decide the fate of his and every single other universe. Now it is going to fight the Shinju and end it all, but will he win? Find out next time. Later!**


End file.
